68kMLA Classic Interface

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Recapping a Slot Load iMac G3 - The Journey

Posted by: Swabbie on 2026-06-16 05:04:50 Starting this thread here to document and elicit collaborations on this difficult task. Symptoms were brief flash of light from The power button, the crt degauss thunk sound then nothing. It stays this way until I unplug and replug in. Before pressing the power button I do have 5v trickle voltage which goes away and stays away after button press and degauss thunk sound until an unplug reset is done. Seems like some sort of safety is being triggered. The fuse is fine. Current roadblock is trying to find the last 2 caps on this analog board C922 & C932 based on a list published here back in 2022. (Attached) Perhaps mine being a Summer 2000 DV SE Graphite 800 MHz variant, the board is slightly different, or the list is wrong or I’m just missing them. I have a headband magnifier and have scanned every cm of this thing and I just can’t find them. I am using an ESR meter on each one in circuit to find all the out of tolerance electrolytica using the ohms/uf/Volts chart on the meter as a guide. Next I plan to desolder those and confirm OT capacitance then order and replace those. I chose this route vs just full recap simply due to cost. I realize I may regret that later if I get it all done and it still doesn’t work. I also don’t plan to mess with the video neck board nor the down converter board if I don’t have to. Any help at this point is greatly appreciated.

Posted by: RepairManiac on 2026-06-16 09:31:03 The cap list post above does not state what version of PAV (Power Analog Video) Board it belongs to. You have an 820-1145-A Ver2 so the list may not be totally accurate for your version. There are four PAV Bds in total: (2 x Version1 & 2 x Version2) Here is the spreadsheet I made at the time we serviced those iMacs. We would buy iMac G3 Slotloads in bulk from local eRecycler to part out and keep PAV Bds on hand for school service. It was confusing at the time determining which version of PAV Bd. you had and if there was a substitute that could be used. Unfortunately, we did not generally troubleshoot to the failed component at the time, so can't help there. Sorry, this does not answer your question directly, but it should help to shed some light on why the cap list may not match.

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